Go out by yourself, face the wind, hold up your head and thank the Universe for this world we live in.

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.

🐾 Hedgehogs, Chooks, Nature, gardening and other rambles. In summer I always enjoy an early-evening walk on our smallholding. No need to get in my car to find nature, I have 8.5ha right here to explore, always hoping to see the Barn Owl or some Guinea fowl, but always enjoying the Bluegum trees and beautiful grasses and wild flowers along the way.

Hi,
I'm Maree Clarkson and after moving from Gauteng in December 2017, where I lived for 47 years, I now live on one of the most beautiful coasts in the world, the North Coast in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. I’m passionate about sketching and painting, animals, birds, nature, Moleskine note books, the beach, crystals, succulents, useless information, technology, blogging, networking, my MAC, my Land Rover, positivity, gardening and discovering anything new in life!
Living in Africa is something very special and I am constantly delighted, amused and amazed by the things I see, do and experience. Join me in some of these experiences.
Watercolours are my preferred medium. For me, the unpredictability and uncontrollable nature of watercolour makes it the most exciting and expressive medium of all. Having a certain picture in your mind and then seeing something slightly different, yet wonderful, come to life, is a thrilling experience! With watercolours, no two artists can produce the same result, the paint will just not allow you!

I used to have dozens of guinea fowl pass through our smallholding here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa), but these days it's like Christmas seeing just a few of them. When we moved to Tarlton in the middle 70's, we were one of a few owners living on the smallholdings and there were large tracts of open land with hundreds of mammals, birds and reptiles that crossed our paths daily. Snakes were rife and regularly had to be removed to a safer place, now we only see a snake a couple of times in the year. I used to have wild hares entering my garden and eating my Marigolds; I haven't seen an hare for about 7 years. The same with hedgehogs, monitors, tortoises and jackal.

The area is now totally built up and our smallholding is now flanked by people on all sides, property fenced and surrounded by high walls - there are few, if any, empty tracts of land any more and I'm just wondering where all the wildlife has managed to find a safe refuge...

Here's wishing everybody a beautiful festive season and many years of joy and inspiration!

Nature Journal

There are chickens in my Nasturtiums!

Pic of the week

Random thoughts

Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened.

::

Look at the bird, up in the treetop.Building its nest, with no time to stop.Hatching its eggs so smooth and so round,Then feeding its babies, worms from the ground.Look at the bird with beak for a mouth.When it gets cold, the bird will fly south.When it gets warm, the bird will return.Let's watch how the birds live, and see what we learn.

:: One of the things about blogging that I am most thankful for is that it has taught me to stop and take in the beauty of the smallest things ::

This Earth belongs to Mother Nature. The rest of us just live here.

The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.

Nature poems

NATURE rarer uses yellow Than another hue; Saves she all of that for sunsets, Prodigal of blue, Spending scarlet like a woman, Yellow she affords Only scantly and selectly, Like a lover’s words.

Wildlife tips

If you have the space, also consider a wildlife pond, with shallow edges so that mammals and birds can drink or bathe safely. A wildlife pond offers invaluable refuge for frogs and other water mammals and insects

Weekly Green tip

By making simple changes in our everyday lives, we can improve the planet we all share. Over the festive season, USE NATURAL DECORATIONS: Forgo craft store supplies for beautiful, biodegradable decorations you can find in nature. Pinecones, gourds, leaves, and acorns are just some of the materials that can add seasonal ambience to your dining room.

Probably most of us have been in a garden on a particular day and time and felt a rush of well-being - of joy, being recharged, uplifted, a sense of healing, being in tune with the infinite. Gardens can clear away the fog of the noisy, fast, techno world, and the mindless focus on the clutter of trivia. Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. In a garden one is not growing rare plants and trees… one is making memories… Gardening is one thing, maybe even the only thing, that brings people from all over this world, together. Gardening teaches us compassion - just walk past the ‘nearly’ dead tree every day, pat it on the bark and whisper, “just hold on for one more year”. It really does still serve a purpose - little raptors like the Fiscal Shrike loves the vantage point the dead branches give her and many birds will bask in the early morning warmth of the sun on a cold winter's morning in the very top branches.

Consider what you bring to the partnership and what the rest of nature brings. Gardening as a partner with the rest of nature means we have to let go of control to allow the garden to do its magic. When we allow ourselves to see the garden more in its own terms, to reach beyond ourselves to the garden, then we become more one with it, and no longer standing outside and above.

A soul garden is one where the forces of nature are more powerfully evident than our own power. This is honoured and expressed through plants that regenerate, and are thereby not as dependent on humans for their existence. These are often labelled as weeds. There is a dance between the power of the weed and us. Allowing weeds to grow in your garden is not just a new fashion, which calls for a wild patch alongside tame ones. Wildness is necessary within a garden, it's a connection between nature and ourselves.

The plight of our honey bees

For the last several years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and although research has shed much light on the crisis, those in the bee business—from hive keepers to commercial farmers—say the insects remain in deep trouble as their colonies continue to struggle. Let's all do our bit - stop using pesticides, provide them with nectar flowers and water. Although some people regard bees as pests, Albert Einstein famously said: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."